by Gaja J. Kos
Lifting her chin towards the clear skies, Rose took in a full breath of air. The fresh sharpness of the mountainous atmosphere blended with the warmth radiating from the magic Serafina’s body produced, transforming it into something even Rose wouldn’t mind living wrapped in for the rest of her life. It was a dream of the worst kind. Impossible.
But these two weeks she intended to spend in Tignes with the Koldunya would do. Alone in the Alps with a daughter of Mokoš. Just like herself.
Serafina took a long sip of wine and licked her lips as she cradled the glass in her hands. “I know I shouldn’t be saying this—probably shouldn’t even be thinking this… But it’s nice to be away from my coven for a while.”
Rose half turned towards her, hooking one foot on the edge of the chair. “I think we’re past being careful when it comes to saying things that shouldn’t be voiced in front of each other.” She winked, but something caught the edges of her smile, preventing it from forming fully.
“You’ll tell me when you feel like it,” the Koldunya said, likely picking up the slight shift in Rose’s features.
Though the words were sincere, Rose had a feeling Serafina already knew well what the problem was.
Those whispers of Mokoš in Rose’s blood had come to life the very moment she had picked up Serafina in her Land Rover Defender in the early hours of morning. The brief, silent exchange she’d had with the witch as they drove off had revealed things weren’t any different with the other woman. And it was the same ethereal dialog that had begun on the streets of Radovljica that ran seamlessly between them even now, sharing the subtle nuances of various emotions each individual felt.
Only it was more than just a sensation.
Despite trying, Rose didn’t know how to describe this unconventional means of communication. The open channel between them was odd. But it was also comforting.
“I forgot to ask… How come you even called me?” Rose shifted to another topic she hadn’t quite been able to get out of her head despite managing to push it into the back of her mind for the duration of the drive.
Rose had been packing for New York when she felt the tug on her power. A tug, followed by an actual phone call.
She still couldn’t believe that Serafina had hiked all the way to Radovljica in the late hours of evening only to contact Rose—it made her seriously consider buying the witch a mobile phone. Though the call had surprised her, it was nothing compared to the Koldunya’s offer to travel with her—if Rose didn’t mind the company, of course.
The proposal had come out of the blue, yet Rose didn’t hesitate. Perhaps it had been those whispers of Mokoš that had set her mind at ease, or perhaps it had been the simple fact that she enjoyed being in the Koldunya’s presence. Whatever the reason, the next day the two of them were already cruising down the highways of Italy, Rose’s mind set firmly on Tignes.
Changing her trip the night before her departure involved some additional work, but Rose preferred staying up for a few more hours, re-packing and re-booking everything, to taking Serafina to her mother’s. Not yet. Not so soon.
Understandably, Ileana still wasn’t completely comfortable around wielders of magic, regardless of the goodness they carried within them. Personality wise, Rose didn’t doubt the two women would hit it off straight away, but nothing could change the fact that Serafina was a Koldunya. And as one, related to the Vedmaks.
So she had chosen another location. One she had been aching to visit again for years.
Maybe it had been Katja’s recollection of the trip to Garmisch that Jürgen had taken her on. Maybe it had been the simple truth that too much time had passed since Rose was last free to prowl the grounds, surrounded by nothing but mountain air. Hunting down the vile werewolf vetalas the previous fall hardly counted. Either way, once the idea of Tignes came into existence in Rose’s mind, she couldn’t let it go.
“I sensed you wanted company,” the Koldunya confessed from behind her wineglass. “And I guess I wanted some different company, too.”
Rose smiled. She hadn’t even admitted it to herself, but she dreaded being alone after everything. Especially after Sebastian’s news. Rose felt isolated enough as it was, and having someone pleasant with her to keep her mind from tearing itself apart was far better than simply running away with all her problems thrashing in her thoughts. Ileana would have spent as much time as she could with her, but her mother had business of her own to attend to. Whereas Serafina… She merely wanted to enjoy two weeks off. With her. She couldn’t have asked for a better traveling partner.
“Thanks,” Rose said softly, clinking her glass with the Koldunya’s.
You need to surround yourself with people of the earth, with the pure energy of life they possess.
Rose chugged her wine as Veles’ words flowed through her mind. It was painful to hear his voice, to hear that heartbroken tone, even if only in her memory. But the god had been right. In Serafina’s presence, Rose felt the connection with her power grow stronger, purer. Yet that didn’t make her long for the lord of the underworld any less.
She exhaled, eyes set on the Koldunya. They were in Tignes. And they were going to have fun.
Rose hid away a grin. “So, you’ve shown me yours. Want to see mine?”
When night descended fully, turning the sky into a black, star-sprinkled canvas, Rose and Serafina found themselves sitting on the patio of Le Panoramic, the wooden floorboards beneath them dry despite the snow that still covered the surrounding area. The restaurant was closed, and the nature that stretched around them was calmingly quiet, as if no one existed in this part of the world but the two of them.
Rose had been unsure about taking Serafina for a hike up the glacier, but when she had voiced her reservation, the Koldunya merely glared at her for a long moment before bursting into laughter.
Seeing her perplexed and slightly doubtful expression, Serafina had reassured her. “Rose, I’m a daughter of nature. Hiking won’t be a problem.”
Rose still wouldn’t have believed her if she hadn’t seen with her own eyes the ease with which the Koldunya made the ascent. Serafina’s feet were light, barely touching the ground, as if the earth itself was lifting the witch upward. Rose prowled next to her, her own footsteps silent—yet somehow, she felt Serafina was the undisputed winner in the stealth department. If Rose didn’t like the witch as much as she did, she just might have been jealous.
Neither of them had broken a sweat as they pushed towards the top. Serafina had reeled in the ever-present bubble of spring when they had begun their hike and hadn’t wrapped the magic around them until they reached their destination. By the time Rose had uncorked a fresh bottle of wine, a delicious Fat bastard red, she was pleasantly warm, her muscles slowly relaxing from the dose of healthy cold and the slight strain the hike to the glacier’s platform had presented.
Placing her glass on the floor in front of her, Rose bent her legs beneath her body and straightened her back, imitating Dr. Xu’s posture to the best of her abilities.
“Time for the light show?” Serafina smiled, the excitement in her eyes precisely the encouraging thing Rose needed to fight her fears and put her plan into motion.
Still, a tight sensation grew in Rose’s gut, but she knew she was just projecting. Nothing bad would happen. Nothing bad could happen.
It was her power, the energy she had come to love, had accepted as a fundamental part of her. And she was in control.
A gasp escaped the Koldunya’s lips as Rose uncurled a single golden vine from her body. It danced through the night, the swirling motion bringing it closer and closer to the wine glass. Slowly, and with immaculate precision, it wrapped around the stem, sneaking higher until the whole thing resembled an ethereal, glowing chalice.
The Koldunya laughed, and the charming sound released Rose from the last remaining constraints of self-doubt. Her skin began to glow, emitting that warm, rich shade of golden energy that gradually engulfed her whole.
It felt good. It
felt right to be one with her power once again. Even if a small part of her was still afraid.
“You’re beautiful,” Serafina whispered with half-parted lips, followed by some oddly adorable sound of admiration.
Rose was thankful the aura of her energy masked the blush that was now flushing her cheeks. For someone to perceive her power as beautiful after everything it had done, after knowing where it came from…
Veles had.
But he was a god. He was someone similar. Someone who understood what it meant to be the only one with such strength and knew the burden that came with it.
Serafina, however, was different. She belonged to a people who condemned the very essence of who Rose was. And yet she thought Rose was beautiful.
“Can you bring out more of your own power?” Rose asked, cocking her head to the side with a smile.
She hadn’t seen even a shimmer of green yet. Not one rogue wave of olive energy.
She could do this. She could play a bit more.
Serafina nodded, never taking her eyes off Rose as the bubble of spring around them became more potent, nearly humming with power—so similar to what Rose had experienced in the presence of the two kolovrats in the Kolduny’s sacred circle. It was as if every element of the earth became alive, became visible. Rose wished she could see more. She hoped Serafina would grant her the privilege of witnessing the full extent of her magic someday; but right now, they needed to keep things safe.
When Rose was certain their powers were balanced in strength, she sent a solitary vine curling through the air between them. Slowly, it made its way towards Serafina’s skin, where the Koldunya’s aura was most potent. The golden energy brushed against the invisible layer, carefully feeling it out.
She had grown accustomed to Serafina’s magic, but here, so close to the witch’s body, the sensation was different.
Unlike her own visible power, the power Rose could shape almost to her will, every inch of it just as potent as the next, the Koldunya’s blend of strength radiated from within her with Serafina acting as its epicenter. The bubble of spring felt like residual magic compared to what now pulsed just above the witch’s skin. And it was magnificent.
Gently, Rose’s vine rubbed against the energy in an ethereal caress. The two powers touched, reacting to one another with curiosity and intrigue. Serafina shuddered, the air around her turning hot before she willed the temperature to drop again.
Noticing the Koldunya’s reaction, Rose reeled the power back towards herself in fear that she had overstepped some line. But when she looked at Serafina, fully expecting to find some form of discontent, Rose was greeted instead by eyes that shone with wild excitement, and a grin that went with the expression perfectly.
“That felt nice,” the witch breathed, batting her long eyelashes as if she could blink away the daze of pleasure.
Instantly, the tension flowed from Rose’s shoulders, and she began chuckling. It had felt nice.
And it had been liberating.
Rose bit her lip. “So… You want to do it again?”
Chapter 8
After sniffing through bodies for the majority of the day, the last thing Evelin wanted to hear was Zarja’s news. And she was even less enthusiastic about actually seeing just what the werewolf had retrieved from the dumpster behind the rogues’ building. The item erased any doubts that could have lingered otherwise—which, in this particular situation, wasn’t a good thing, exactly. Evelin wouldn’t have minded the small consolation of not knowing whether things truly were as grave as they seemed.
She cringed as she took the paper in her hands, needing to remind herself again that the surface was already too badly contaminated for the police to lift any usable traces off it. Her fingerprints on top of everything else wouldn’t change a thing.
With silent curses leaving her lips, Evelin adjusted her grip and eyed the undesirable object.
The thickness of the stationery, the thin line of gold delicately tracing the bottom edge—there were certainly no doubts left in Evelin’s mind. Aside from the content and handwriting being different, the note was a dead ringer for the one Vaclav had placed in the traditionals’ lair during the winter months, inviting his half-brethren to a buffet-slaughter.
She had never gotten the chance to investigate where the paper had come from; with Tomo’s help, the pack had sniffed out Vaclav before she had even begun to make her inquiries. But luckily, Evelin had kept her initial notes on the matter, a range of stores that carried somewhat more upscale stationery, and those that dealt with custom-made designs.
Now more than ever, she was grateful she hadn’t combed through every box that had accumulated during the renovations she and Mark had done on the house. If she had thrown out the damned files only weeks before, Evelin’s mood would be even worse. At least she wouldn’t have to start from scratch this way.
Still, all that did absolutely nothing to ease the unpleasant feeling rooted deep in her gut.
The three vampires Zarja and the twins had followed were just that. Vampires. Yet this refined touch of quality stationery, the clear, cursive handwriting… Sure, it could easily belong to a twentyfourhourly with a knack for esthetics, but Evelin wasn’t convinced. Either it was an ancient, or—what she somehow feared even more—it was one of Vaclav’s kin.
Another Upir, loose on the streets.
She shuddered at the idea, fingers digging into the stationery. That raw, untamed vampiric magic Vaclav had hummed with when the pack had closed in on him still lingered in Evelin’s memory, the mere thought of it making her skin crawl with a thousand phantom bugs. To imagine that another one was lurking about Ljubljana…
With her teeth visibly elongated, Evelin snarled.
“Agreed,” Zarja said from her side. Neither of them needed to hear the other’s thoughts to know they felt the same. “We need to infiltrate that building.”
Evelin leaned back in her chair, her eyes narrowing on the piece of paper in her hands. She let the rock music coming from the speakers set around the patio of Pri Sojenicah dance through her mind, helping her single out a plan that wouldn’t end with the pack going in blindly.
She was faintly aware of Frank weaving between the tables in the background, rushing by just close enough to pass Tim a pitcher of beer. The werewolf snatched it from Frank’s hands without a second wasted.
“I think I know how we could scout the place.” Evelin shot up in her chair, the underlying tiredness retreating for a moment. She scanned the faces of the four pack mates present at the table, drinking in their anticipation before she entwined her fingers around her knee and cleared her throat. “Granted, I’d need Tomo’s cooperation, but since he’s as eager to stop this madness as we are, I’m sure he’d bend a few rules…”
“You’ll risk the old wolf throwing another tantrum?” Jürgen jested halfheartedly, the corners of his eyes sharing those traces of fatigue that seemed to linger on the faces of all pack members lately.
Evelin gave a small smile. “He’s a happy daddy of two who just so happened to have spent the majority of the day rolling around the yard with the little monsters. I think his insecurities burned out faster than you can chug those beloved pitchers of yours.”
“Ah.” The werewolf sighed, false disappointment pulling at the corners of his mouth. “Parenthood killed all the fun.”
Zarja shot him a wicked smile, her gaze darting between Jürgen and his brother. “We still have you two to make fun of.”
The twins snarled in response, causing Zarja’s smile to turn into a grin. Tim observed the exchange in relaxed silence while Evelin chuckled.
It was odd to not have the whole pack together, but there were some things even their reduced numbers couldn’t change. The easiness. The humor. The warmth of friendship. It was in times like these that Evelin was more thankful for that constant than she could possibly say.
Despite the shitty situation looming above their heads, not everything was bad.
Nathaniel’s w
ish to examine more vampiric bodies didn’t wane, but it had never even crossed the M.E.’s mind that he might get so many in such a short timeframe. He leaned against the door of his office, taking in the now almost suffocatingly crammed space.
After borrowing Mark and Evelin’s pickup truck, Tim had delivered two corpses from the newly found warehouse slaughter before he headed back to meet the rest of the pack at Pri Sojenicah. Nathaniel should have been used to the werewolves’ blunt transportation of bodies around town by now, yet the thought never sat well with him. Especially when his brother was the one executing the delivery.
He rubbed his face. It was just the exhaustion talking.
Breathing deeply, he opened his eyes. The two freshly deceased vampires were laid each on their own gurney.
He cursed.
He would have to work fast with the corpses kept out in the open, and it was all his fault. He should have installed a bigger cold box in the lab, but when he had made the initial modifications, he certainly didn’t take into account the possibility of a larger number of bodies suddenly appearing on his hands.
His pathologist’s heart cringed at the idea of contaminating the corpses by not storing them separately, but that was the best he could do. Tim didn’t have time to drive off and dispose of the one Nathaniel already had in the box. The M.E. knew he had no choice but to stuff them together once he was done with the autopsy. The third—he had absolutely no clue where to put it.
Maceration wasn’t an option. The only solution was pestering Tim to swing by shortly and clear the bodies away before the distinct stench of decomposition began seeping through the doors. Novak already had it out for Nathaniel, and despite the scrawny pathologist not posing any real threat on his miserable own, the man had stirred some questions among his coworkers with that loud mouth of his.